Sorry Badger, I may have misread you about dealing with commission based professionals. However, in your posts 2584 & 2589 you did say "anyone asks, I would advise never, never use the services of commission based professionals in ANY industry particularly CFP's,CLU's..., etc. I assumed you followed your own advice, yet we all know that when we go to the auto repair shop or the men's store that we are more than likely dealing with somebody who receives commissions or is partially compensated by a percentage of the sale or gross profit or markup on the work or product. Even the girl at the coffee shop who you tip is getting a %. Guess it depends what the definition of "is" is, or professional as it may be. Sometimes it is hard to convince a CPA that any other discipline or occupation can be made up of professionals.

Sometimes a commission is the only fair way to deal with a client. Consider the poor young widow who seeks advice for a $15,000 or $20,000 life insurance settlement that she wants to invest for her kids education: You would charge her a fee for a plan of upwards of $1,000 and send her down the road or to the internet broker with a recommendation to purchase a certain type of mutual fund, and come back next year for a review and update. And a reminder letter would go out next year (conflict of interest?). Or you would tell her that she really did not have a big enough asset to warrant the time and charges you would have to bill her in order for you to make a living. (Thank you for coming in. Pay the lady up front $75 for consultation time.) Then you could smugly sit back and deny any conflict. She goes down to the commission paid broker, who spends time with her deciding how she should invest the money for her kids education and IF she invests it he makes 2-3% for the transaction. A better deal for her...she did not need nor could she afford a financial plan. A good deal for you because you did not want to fool with her in the first place.

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